{"id":18839,"date":"2019-10-31T15:29:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T12:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/?p=18839"},"modified":"2019-11-16T18:27:49","modified_gmt":"2019-11-16T15:27:49","slug":"family-separation-poses-a-threat-to-the-health-and-development-of-migrant-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/family-separation-poses-a-threat-to-the-health-and-development-of-migrant-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Family separation poses a threat to the health and development of migrant children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A\nheated discussion about family separation has been raging since 2018.\nThe US practice of separating children from adult family members and\nholding them in detention camps caused broad public indignation after\nit emerged that adult migrants at the US-Mexico border were being\nsent to federal prisons while their children were being labelled\n\u201cunaccompanied\u201d and sent to detention centers without any\nstipulation of how they could later be reunited with their parents.\nIt is difficult to say exactly how many children have been taken from\ntheir parents at the border, but estimates reach into the thousands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ursula detention centre in McAllen, Texas, June 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Even\nthough the United States ended family separation under pressure from\ninternational organizations, many children have remained in detention\ncenters, where intolerable detention conditions have been documented.\nIn some cases, children have been placed in large cages and have not\nbeen provided with nutritious food, bed linens, clean clothes, or\npersonal hygiene products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, family separation is practiced not just in the United States: Police and migration officers in many CIS countries conduct repressive raids that end in children being separated from their parents. The parents are then sent to a special institution while their children are sent to the hospital and then on to a closed children\u2019s facility, where they are often deprived of an education, for an extended period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The photo from an article by Ekaterina Rusilova \u201cMaybe Someone Killed Me, Anything Could Happen to Me\u201d. 18.02.2015, Russkaya planeta project, rusplt.ru <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Opinion of pediatricians<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Human\nrights defenders are not the only ones outraged by family\nseparation\u2014pediatric health specialists have also been sounding the\nalarm. In fact, the connection between family separation and growing\nproblems with a child\u2019s physical and mental health has been long\nknown and is well documented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers at The Bucharest Early Intervention Project<\/a> demonstrated the negative impact that institutionalization at an early age has on children\u2019s cognitive development and behavior. This study was conducted in Romania, where thousands of children were kept in overcrowded children\u2019s homes under Ceau\u0219escu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Children in an orphanage in Bucharest, Romania. Photo by Michael Carroll, www.futurity.org <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nBucharest Early Intervention Project showed that being kept in an\ninstitution without family members is harmful to a small child\u2019s\ndevelopment and can delay the development of cognitive skills,\nincrease the risk of psychological disorders, and stunt physical\ngrowth. These studies are also relevant for understanding the\nphysical, psychological, and mental states of migrant children in\nclosed institutions. Charles Nelson, who worked on the Bucharest\nproject, is a neuroscientist and psychologist at Harvard Medical\nSchool. Nelson has stated that children who are separated from their\nparents and placed in a closed institution lose their sense of being\nprotected and experience trauma that could result in changes to brain\nstructure and cause long-lasting emotional, psychological, and\nphysical damage. The absence of a parent or guardian also often\nsignifies the loss of a nurturer who can stimulate a child\u2019s\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In describing the situation with family separation, Nim Tottenham, a psychologist and director of the Developmental Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at Columbia University, used the term toxic stress<\/strong>, i.e. strong, repetitive, and\/or prolonged adversity without adequate adult support, which can impact a child\u2019s entire future life. According to Tottenham, when children are in a state of toxic stress, the brain and body are fixated on ensuring immediate survival. But children are especially vulnerable because they are experiencing major brain development, which means survival takes priority over things like academic development and physical growth. The long-term effects of toxic stress have been confirmed in a study<\/a> published in the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Even though toxic stress is not as visible as, say, a broken arm or leg, it can leave a lasting mark on a child\u2019s brain and destroy the foundation for future learning, behavior, and health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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